Meet Mark

Let me introduce myself. My name is Mark Sisson. I’m 63 years young. I live and work in Malibu, California. In a past life I was a professional marathoner and triathlete. Now my life goal is to help 100 million people get healthy. I started this blog in 2006 to empower people to take full responsibility for their own health and enjoyment of life by investigating, discussing, and critically rethinking everything we’ve assumed to be true about health and wellness...

Month: June 2007

By Sara | June 22, 2007

Sara your editor here. For the die-hard Fuji fans and apples everywhere who simply must accessorize with all things MDA, we present:

The adorable Fuming Fuji mug! Fume along with El Fritter every morning as you catch the latest health and fitness news. Click the mug to check out all the great Fuming Fuji and Mark’s Daily Apple accessories.

If you’re a customer of Mark’s awesome nutrition supplement company, Primal Nutrition, you can also get fun items with that super-cool “is it a sanskrit symbol? is it an infinity symbol? what exactly is it a symbol of?” symbol. We don’t know either, but it sure looks good on a shirt or an eco-friendly bag. Admit it. You want one.

While I’m swimming around in this post, I’d like to catch you up on some of the changes you may have noticed ’round ye ole blog. We’ve been experimenting with some different posting schedules and formats. For example, we’ve stopped the daily news updates (Worker Bees’ Daily Bites) and begun bringing you a comprehensive list every Friday of all the most interesting, important, and informative health news (Worker Bees’ Weekly Buzz). Do you like this format? Do you like the changes you’ve seen? Please let us know what you want to read more of as Mark’s Daily Apple continues to grow and evolve.

By Sara | June 21, 2007

Neither a pine nor an apple, the pineapple is actually a fusion of many “fruitlets”. The pineapple is special for many reasons, but for the science nerds, this is one of the only bromeliad fruits humans eat. A bromeliad can be either an epiphyte (rootless, chillin’ in the air) or a regular old terrestrial, such as the pineapple. (At long last, tropical biology in the Costa Rican mud pays off…gems, I tell you.)

Why it’s smart to nosh:

Pineapple is the only food which contains natural bromelain, a group of enzymes that aid in digestion, reduce inflammation, reduce swelling, and speed healing. Bromelain is great for those with muscle and joint injuries, arthritis, gout and other inflammation issues. You do have to eat the pineapple fresh, however – cooking deactivates the bromelain (so much for feeling hopeful about the Carl’s Jr. Hawaiian burger ads).

Pineapple is a rich source of manganese, an important mineral. Among many important roles as a cofactor, manganese helps superoxide dismutase do its free-radical-bustin’ job.

By Worker Bee | June 21, 2007

The Fuming Fuji is outraged at the marketing of toxic food, especially when it is aimed at the small fry. This week, El Fritter has decided to have a serious problem with Kellogg’s.

But, Fuming Fuji, you’ve been very vocal of late about your feud with David MacKay, Kellogg’s CEO. This seems like a thinly veiled attempt to lash out at your rival. What could you possibly have to gripe about when it comes to Kellogg’s? They just announced they’re making many of their foods healthier – and they will no longer be marketing sugary products to children under 12!

The Fuming Fuji says no!

The claim: Fuji, clearly this is personal. I don’t even want to hear it. In fact, I’m starting to think you just have a problem with breakfast. In the last six months, you’ve fumed against breakfast bars, breakfast cereals, breakfast waffles. Maybe you just need therapy, Fuji.

The catch: Clearly you are projecting. The Fuji cannot help you with that, he is not trained in psychotherapy. While MacKay and the Fuji have been feuding with a furor only outdone by Rosie and Donald, this has nothing to do with my anger over his hypocrisy. I am furious about the junk that Kellogg’s slings at the small fry! Big Agra’s tartlets of pop and not-berry death nuggets should not fool anybody, even you, my carbaceous foe.

The comeback: Rosie and Donald Trump, huh. I wouldn’t go that far. You’re an apple. Maybe Paris and Nicole, though.

Here’s my “carbaceous” opinion: So Kellogg’s will still be selling products they decide they cannot reformulate into healthier versions – yeah, maybe that’s a tad disingenuous. Okay, maybe a lot, actually. Wait, where was I going with this?

Oh, yeah! At least they’re not going to market unchanged products to kids, and they won’t be using cartoons to hawk the junkier stuff. Isn’t a little progress better than none? Snap! I think you’re just being stubborn, Fuji. Some would say obtuse.

The conclusion: Good for you and your knowledge of angles. Unfortunately for you I have the right angle. Ha, ha. That is a little geometry joke. I do not know this “snap” you speak of, but his cousin Crackle is a real little weasel, let me tell you.

Mark the Fuji’s words: Kellogg’s will not change very much. What little they change they will brag about like they invented Christmas.

The catchphrase: Kellogg’s: new and improved, because we didn’t feel like a lawsuit!

Disclaimer: Mark Sisson and the Worker Bees do not necessarily endorse the views of the Fuming Fuji.

By Mark Sisson | June 20, 2007

Unfortunately, the popular wisdom of the past 40 years – that we would all be better off doing 45 minutes to an hour a day of intense aerobic activity – has created a generation of overtrained, underfit, immune-compromised exerholics. Hate to say it, but we weren’t meant to aerobicize at the chronic and sustained high intensities that so many people choose to do these days. The results are almost always unimpressive. Ever wonder why years of “Spin” classes, endless treadmill sessions and interminable hours on the “elliptical” have done nothing much to shed those extra pounds and really tone the butt?

Don’t worry. There’s a reason why the current methods fail, and when you understand why, you’ll see that there’s an easier, more effective – and fun – way to burn fat, build or preserve lean muscle and maintain optimal health. The information is all there in the primal DNA blueprint, but in order to get the most from your exercise experience, first you need to understand the way we evolved and then build your exercise program around that blueprint.

Like most people, I used to think that rigorous aerobic activity was one of the main keys to staying healthy – and that the more mileage you could accumulate (at the highest intensity), the better. During my 20+ years as a competitive endurance athlete, I logged tens of thousands of training miles running and on the bike with the assumption that, in addition to becoming fit enough to race successfully at a national class level, I was also doing my cardiovascular system and the rest of my body a big healthy favor.

Being the type A that I am, I read Ken Cooper’s seminal 1968 book Aerobics and celebrated the idea that you got to award yourself “points” for time spent at a high heart rate. The more points, the healthier your cardiovascular system would become. Based on that notion, I should have been one of the healthiest people on the planet.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t – and that same mindset has kept millions of other health-conscious, nirvana-seeking exercisers stuck in a similar rut for almost 40 years. It’s time to get your head out of the sand and take advantage of your true DNA destiny, folks!

The first signal I had that something was wrong was when I developed debilitating osteoarthritis in my ankles…at age 28. This was soon coupled with chronic hip tendonitis and nagging recurrent upper respiratory tract infections. In retrospect, it is clear now that my carbohydrate-fueled high-intensity aerobic lifestyle was promoting a dangerous level of continuous systemic inflammation, was severely suppressing other parts of my immune system and the increased oxidative damage was generally tearing apart my precious muscle and joint tissue.

The stress of high intensity training was also leaving me soaking in my own internal cortisol (stress hormone) bath. It wasn’t so clear to me at the time exactly what was happening

By Mark Sisson | June 20, 2007

I have finally been memed. New blogger confession: I didn’t even know what a meme was until Claire over at Burning the Scale tagged me. At the risk of mortifying my teenagers for all eternity, I’m meming, darn it.

The way it works: In this particular meme, I tell you seven things about myself you may not know. Then I tag seven other bloggers to do likewise. You ready for this? 🙂

Facts about me:

1. I used to eat a half-gallon of ice cream a day. Every day. Seriously. For almost 10 years while I was training and racing, I craved the sugar and fat in ice cream so much that if I was out of ice cream at 11PM, I would leave the house and run down to Thrifty’s to stock up. Luckily, I got past that and today I can’t even eat a small portion without feeling like – well – crap.

2. I shave my legs. Yes. I have for over 25 years since I started cycling and doing triathlons. I’ll keep doing it as long as I’m fit.

3. I grew up in a small fishing village in Maine. Lived there 25 years, in fact. I worked hard to lose the accent, though.

4. My favorite book is “Sometimes a Great Notion” by Ken Kesey. I think it is truly the great American novel.

5. I’m not a singer, but if there’s reincarnation, I want to come back as one. I once sang “Mack the Knife” in front of 300 people in Tokyo when the first Karaoke machines were introduced. (Had no choice – Pioneer Electronics was my triathlon sponsor).

6. I’m a big fan of the Police and am hoping to score tickets to their reunion tour this summer.

7. My latest pursuit is golf, something I never thought I’d be into. I considered it a waste of time when I was an endurance athlete; now I find that it’s a wonderful way to get out into the fresh air and meet new, interesting people. Sure is a humbling game, though.